This is a great selection of 2 and 3D objects that work together to tell a story. There are a variety of shapes as well.

This allowed us to pick the two mats you see here - the black to go with the record. The matching frame works with all of the objects.

The is what we started with: a selection of objects plus the chosen mats and frame. One of the key features of the piece was this Gospel Goodness 45 record. We mounted it so that if someone ever wanted to play it, they could. No adhesive was used in the grooved part of the record.

There's lots of history in this shadow box with this vintage image, a bottle opener, and this special patrol badge.

A Pittsburgh piece wouldn't be complete with out these sports references. We love the Pirates pennant and the Steelers button.

These vintage postcards fit perfectly with the history themes in this shadowbox.

With the finishing touches of the matching mats, matching frame, and museum glass, we think this shadowbox looks amazing!

We love our work, and we love our customers. Come in and see us soon. Now's the perfect time to start planning your holiday framing projects.

We worked with elements of texture, layering of mats, metallic sheen, and a matching frame.

Here you can see the scarab that we put in a keyhole below the main image:

Here you can see the layers of matting and all of the textures we worked with to complement the artwork.

We loved working on this piece.

Keep in mind in your future framing projects that you can effectively combine 2D and 3D objects.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

]]> (Bull City Art & Frame Company)2D3Darchivalbullcitycustomframingegyptianscarabshadowboxhttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/9/egyptian-piece-with-2d-and-3d-elementsMon, 26 Sep 2016 20:37:04 GMTTips for Those with First Time Custom Framing Projectshttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/9/tips-for-those-with-first-time-custom-framing-projects

Sometimes folks with first-time custom framing projects are surprised at what goes into this sort of work. Custom framing really is that - custom. We have framing artists who are experts and work with you on design. Each project we do is created individually. We do not use any ready made matting or frames. We work with each customer to create a unique piece. That archaic word that has come back into fashion, "bespoke," meaning "made-to-order" describes our work perfectly. Want a bepoke piece for your wall? You've come to the right place.

If this is your first experience with custom framing, rest assured that we will walk you through everything. To help, though, here is a list of tips to make the whole process as seamless as possible.

Bring your art with you. If you have a photo on your camera or phone that you want framed but don't yet have a print, contact us about our printing services. We can handle the printing and have your print here when you come to design your piece.

If you are traveling to get here, have a big project, or you've got more than one piece, it's good to set up an appointment ahead of time. (919) 680-4278

Take a snapshot of the space where you will hang your framing project when it is done.

Have ideas on what you want? Find examples and bring snapshots.

Don't know where to begin? That's OK. We'll help you through the whole process.

]]> (Bull City Art & Frame Company)bepokecustomframingtipshttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/9/tips-for-those-with-first-time-custom-framing-projectsTue, 13 Sep 2016 16:56:18 GMTDuke Jerseyhttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/8/duke-jersey
Living in an area with lots of universities (we love y'all), we frame lots of jerseys and T-shirts. A lot goes into these, and we use our sewing skills as well as our other framing skills. Recently, we framed this Duke jersey:

Here you see Tiffany hard at work on getting the jersey in place and sewing it at key points to hold it.

We love our work and have a great time working on your projects as you can see here by the big grin on Tiffany's face. Here she is again, having a great time with the nearly finished jersey project. Here you see it before it goes into the frame. Another great feature of this project is that the client had us add the player's name from the locker. The end result looks wonderful. What a great keepsake!

We also frame other textiles, for instance, we frame wedding dresses as well. We are working on one now and will do a post about that one soon.

]]> (Bull City Art & Frame Company)customframingdukedukeuniversityframingjerseyshadowboxhttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/8/duke-jerseyWed, 31 Aug 2016 12:15:00 GMTFloat Mount Exampleshttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/8/float-mount-examples
We love custom framing, because there are so many options. We help our clients choose the best option for each of their framing projects. For these two original artworks, we felt that float mounting would be wonderful.

"Float mounting creates a seamless presentation. With "float mounting," the artwork will look like it's hovering or floating over the backing board. This is a very common way of mounting your artwork when you do not want a mat to cover the edge of the paper. It is standard for prints, charcoal drawings, illustrations, and any pen and ink on paper where the artifact itself - the piece of paper - showcases the rough edge of the paper."

Here is one example:

Here is a detail, where you can really see the original rough edges of this work of art:

With float mounting, you can choose different custom options to suit both the artwork itself and your decor. For instance, this next work, "Bunny Love," was float mounted over a unique mat board that replicates asphalt. This fits with the street art nature of this work.

Here is a detail, so that you can really see the float mounting and the asphalt-like mat board.

Gotta love street art!

]]> (Bull City Art & Frame Company)customframingfloatmountprintsstreetarthttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/8/float-mount-examplesTue, 23 Aug 2016 14:05:00 GMTCustom Shadow Box for a Signed Electric Guitarhttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/8/custom-shadow-box-for-a-signed-electric-guitar
We had a great time with this project!

We made a shadow box for this signed electric guitar.

For this shadow box, we made custom made archival wooden mounts to hold the guitar safely in place. These mounts are screwed into box itself.

Here is a close up of the mount underneath the guitar.

Here is the mount at the top:

The mounts work with the guitar strap buttons to hold the guitar in place.

Here you can see the screws holding the mounts from inside the back of the shadow box:

To add a finishing touch to the custom box we built, matching the depth to the size of the guitar, we added a stacked frame.

Here you see the final product in our work area, behind the scenes. And yes, that is our vacuum cleaner making a special appearance - but it actually does help give you the scale of this shadow box, so we left it in for reference.

This was an awesome project that Nick's wife Kelly brought in for us to shadowbox as a surprise for Nick. Nick had an amazing 10 year career in the military so needless to say this box tells a great story. A huge THANK YOU to Nick for his service to our country!!

This is a wonderful little handmade pouch that our client bought 10 years ago on a vacation to Alaska. Archival mounting was the most important factor in the design. We hand stitched the pouch in many places onto an acid free fabric mat board.

Check out all the different places that we stitched down... my finger was VERY sore after all the pinning and stitching!!!

All the different places that we stitched down... my finger was VERY sore after all the pinning and stitching!!!All the different places that we stitched down... my finger was VERY sore after all the pinning and stitching!!!

We added a layer of spacing under the top mat to keep the glass from touching the pouch.

Close up of the spacing and mattingClose up of the spacing and matting

We framed this epic 24 piece "Battles of Napoleon" series. This project was so epic that we even drove 3 hours to our client's beach house to hang these for them! These hang across from a wonderful 25-foot wall of windows, so archival glass was used to protect the images from fading.

Folk art is a very collectable genre. Some clients scavenge auctions, tag sales, and the internet, to find these one-of-a-kind pieces to add to or complete their collections. We shadow boxed this piece by lining the box with the fabric mat on the sides. To get the 3D look, our client opted for museum glass, so that glare would not be an issue when looking at this awesome mixed media piece.

I have been told that when you travel to Greece you will see these iconic images all over walls, in museums, and in print. Our clients wanted to memorialize this epic vacation by bringing some of Greece home with them. They picked up a book of iconic Greek images, and we picked out a few that best reminded them of their magical vacation. We provided our clients with custom hanging templates so that hanging this grouping was a breeze!

]]> (Bull City Art & Frame Company)collectiblefine art printgreecegroupingkeepsakesouvenirtravelhttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/6/greek-travel-groupingTue, 28 Jun 2016 14:00:00 GMTShadowbox for Two Antique Derringershttps://www.bullcityartandframecompany.com/blog/2016/6/shadowbox-for-two-antique-derringers
Custom Shadowboxes for Two DerringersCustom Shadowboxes for Two Derringers
We really enjoyed working on this project. Here we made a custom shadow box for two antique derringers. The front is hinged with a magnetic closure, so that you have access to the derringers.

Mount for DerringerMount for Derringer

In order to hold the guns in place, we made custom, non-scratching, wood mounts.